How to Monetize Your Hobby
What can you monetize
No matter how obscure you think your hobby might be, there’s a market for it. And if not, you now have the tools to create the market for it. With our increased connectedness and access to billions of people, there’s the possibility to make money out of almost anything.
For some people, monetizing their hobby can be a good source of side income, but for many it’s turned into their full-time jobs. If you want to be part of the latter group, there’s a lot of work that goes into it but with the right approach it can become a reality.
Mindset
When you decide to monetize your hobby, it’s the first step towards starting a business. That’s the frame of mind you should be in. Regardless of whether or not you already have a full-time job, you need to be dedicating the time to make money with your hobby. There’s no way around it.
Creating mental models is the best way to be mentally ready for progress. In the book, Smarter Faster Better, Charles Duhigg lays out why mental models are so important. By creating scenarios in our heads, our minds are prepared for any outcome. Without it, when things go against our plan, we’re blindsided by it. Cognitive tunneling—the deer in a headlight effect—makes us focus on what’s directly ahead and fail to see the bigger picture.
Mental models are scenarios that you create in your head that outline every outcome possible, good and bad. Thinking through what could happen and how we would react to them gives us the basis to react when those situations actually happen.
When starting your own business, there’s a lot of unforeseen circumstances that can either create opportunities or put the risk of failure at your feet. But if you’re mentally prepared for any outcome, you’re more likely to be able to roll with the punches and come out the other end stronger for it.
Sales channels
Getting your first sale is incredibly satisfying. Sometimes, it’s enough motivation to put you on the path to success. There are enough success stories of small stores turning into bigger operations and it all starts with the first baby step.
Network
Getting your first sale is incredibly satisfying. For most people, that first sale comes within your network of family and friends. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of that avenue to start with. Most small business owners do. Somebody always knows somebody who knows somebody else. Word of mouth travels fast, especially when it’s from someone who supports you from the get go.
Going out and meeting new people at networking events is also a great way to drum up business, especially if the hobby you’re trying to monetize is a service like graphic design.
Meeting new people is about building relationships and might take longer than making a simple sale. You’re not pushing for them to buy what you’re selling just yet. Instead, you’re looking to give them as much information about what you do. You never know what kind of partnerships you might make even if you’re not talking to a prospective customer.
It’s a good idea to have examples or portfolios ready for these kinds of events. When I networked with people for my graphic design service, I made sure to keep a copy of my portfolio and my website open on my phone. Whenever people showed interest, I’d say, “Here, I can show you.” If someone can see examples of your work at the peak of their interest, it’ll be easier to follow up.
If you’re trying to promote a physical product, that method might not always be viable, especially if it’s too big to carry around. But you can still have a few pictures loaded and ready to show the people you’re talking to.
And when you do go out to meet new people, don’t forget your business cards. After all, you are running a business now.
Markets, shows and conferences
You can never really go wrong with public events. The benefits of face-to-face selling are huge. You may not get mass sales at shows or conferences, but the chance to meet people in person means there’s a lot less competition than there is online.
Like networking, being able to interact with your potential customers also lets you build relationships that could help them kick start your journey towards monetization.
Keep an eye out for these events. Most big cities in North America have artisan shows going on for most of the year. If you’re selling a physical product, take advantage of it and try to get into as many of them as possible.
Don’t forget to get yourself registered with a mobile payment system like Square before you go out there though. There’s nothing worse than losing a sale because people don’t carry enough cash with them.
Services are a little easier to promote at shows and conferences. Without the need for a physical area to display your product, there’s no overhead costs or fees to pay. You simply have to be good at networking and talk to as many people as possible. Relationships take a longer time to build when you’re selling a service, so be patient.
Taking out a booth at trade shows come at a cost, but it does give you a great marketing opportunity. With the right plan, it can be a great way to get exposure, help you gauge where your competition is and new trends that you can capitalize on.
If you need to get trade show ready, get in touch.
Online
Setting up your own website is a good first step to selling online. Every platform has shopping plugins. The plus side to hosting your own site is that you have a lot of flexibility for relatively low cost.
The only limitations really come down to marketing. If you have a good social media following, then getting sales through your own website should be easy and save you money in fees, custom designs and paid plans with third party sellers.
If going solo isn’t your cup of tea, there’s plenty of third party platforms that allow you to build stores and sell your products through their portals. Granted, they charge fees that might seem extortionate when you’re just starting, but they’re a great way to jumpstart your small business.
There’s Shopify, Etsy, Zazzle and tonnes more places where people can sell their handcrafted goods and all platforms have their own success stories. These sites provide you with a community to bond with, resources, plugins and sometimes, press coverage on their blogs. The fees or commissions for these might be high, but in the end, if you feel that the benefit of exposure and support will help, then a third-party platform might be the better way to start.
Marketing
Strategy
Always remember that strategy comes before execution, no matter how small your business. Execution comes easily but without the right plan behind it, you end up wasting a lot of resources and risk putting out inconsistent messaging.
It’s also important because third-party platforms have made it so easy to get your work out that it has led to very saturated markets, especially when it comes to handmade physical products like jewellery, clothing or décor.
You don’t have to aggressively compete if that’s not your thing. A lot people just want to share their passion and don’t want to delve deep into marketing. For them, money isn’t the motivation, the reward of sharing their skills is.
But when you look at the shops that have succeeded, it’s the ones with a strong marketing plan in place that have done it. They’ve learned how to position their products in relation to their competition and create a story around their brand. Like any small business your brand and positioning mean everything. It gives people consistency and differentiation that will keep them coming back.
Before you do though, you need to figure out who your target audience is. Forget the fancy data and metrics; you can generally find what you need from the kinds of people you engage with on social media. It doesn’t take a lot of interactions to figure out the patterns. Once you know the kind of people they are, you can develop stronger messaging that would appeal to them.
Once the two pillars of successful brand strategy match up, you’re bound to find your niche and make a name for yourself in it.
Execution
Working without a budget means that you’re going to have to leverage social media and word of mouth. Luckily, millions of people are already making money through their hobbies and passions using the power of social media.
The real challenge comes in picking the right platform. People seem to default to setting up a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages. If you’re trying to make money from your hobby, you’re likely holding down a full time job and have other responsibilities. You’re just going to get stretched thin.
This is where you have to start working smarter. Depending on what you’re trying to sell, you can usually pick a few platforms that make it easier to cross-promote on.
If you’re selling a physical product, then visual mediums like Instagram are the easiest ways to get seen. And the benefit of images over written blogs is that you can repost it on multiple platforms. Here’s where you take advantage of sites like Tumblr or Pinterest. Both sites have very niche audiences which receptive to handmade products.
If you’re selling a service on the other hand, then write an informative blog post. That way you create something that lasts and can bring a lot more value to your readers. Clients go into business relationships with someone they trust. By creating value-generating posts you show potential clients you know what you’re doing, establishing credibility.
Conclusion
For those who want to take their hobbies to the next level, there’s always a way to monetize it. Following these steps will help get you started, but you have to be able to think on your feet and adjust based on what you’re selling and the way the market moves.
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